Medical Miracle: UAE Woman Wakes up From Coma after 27 years

A patient being sent for a brain injury scan | Representational Image | (Photo Credit: army.mil)

Mumbai, April 24: An Emirati woman who suffered a serious head injury in 1991 has woken up from her coma after 27 years, a case that only be described as a medical miracle. Munira Abdulla was 32 years old when she suffered a serious brain injury when her car was hit by a bus during a school run. Her son was four years old. Today he is 31.

Her son Omair Webair spoke about his undying hope of seeing his mother awake to the UAE-based publication The National.

The Accident

Omar says that his mother and he were in the back seat of the car which was being driven by his father’s brother when their car was hit by a bus. He said that his mother saw the bus coming and hugged him to protect him. He escaped with just a bruise to his head but his mother suffered a severe injury. She was also left untreated for hours which pushed her into a coma.

The Treatment

Munira Abdulla was treated in the UAE but was then shifted to a hospital in London where she was declared to be in a vegetative state – unresponsive, but able to sense pain. The family then took her back to her home city of Al Ain for a few years where she was fed through a tube and kept alive with the help of various machines. In 2017, with the help of a grant by the Crown Prince Court, a government body in Abu Dhabi, the family took Munira for specialised treatment to Germany. There, Omar recounts the doctors performed a number of surgeries to correct her severely shortened arm and leg muscles, and she was given medication to improve her brain’s functioning, including her wakefulness.

The Miracle

Despite the intensive treatment, Munira had still not woken up but her general parameters were improving. The trigger came in the form of her son. Omar said that he was involved in a loud argument in her room in the German hospital during which he realised his mother became agitated. "There was a misunderstanding in the hospital room and she sensed I was at risk, which caused her a shock," Omar said.

"She was making strange sounds and I kept calling the doctors to examine her, but they said everything was normal. "Then, three days later, I woke up to the sound of someone calling my name. "It was her! She was calling my name. For years I have dreamt of this moment, and my name was the first word she said."

A case like Munira’s is incredibly rare – of a person waking up from a coma after spending so many years asleep. The fate of former Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher is a case in point. He was put into a medically-induced coma after he suffered a head injury in a skiing accident in France in 2013. He has since been transferred to his home in Switzerland to continue his treatment but there has been no word on his current physical state.